The tragic life of an Indian cinematic genius

The iconic Indian director and actor Guru Dot was only 39 years old when he died in 1964, but he left behind a cinematic legacy that continues to resonate after decades.

Born in July 9, 1925 in the southern state of Karnataka, next week represents the centenary. But the man who stands behind the camera, his emotional disorder and mental health struggles is still largely indisputable.

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find sad.

Classical Indian movie maker like Pyaaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phoool – cinematic food foodstuffs for its immortal topics – DUTT has provided a deep personal style in the film industry that was new in the post -independence era.

His complex characters often reflect his personal struggles; He touched on his conspiracies to comprehensive motifs, and called on the public to face uncomfortable facts through beautiful cinema.

DUTT’s beginnings were modest and his childhood was placed with financial difficulties and troubled family life. After his family moved to Bengal in eastern India to work, he became a young man who is inspired by the culture of the region and his cinematic vision will be later in life.

Its title – Padukone – was dropped after entering the Bombay film industry in the 1940s. He did not appear for the first time as a director, but as a dance designer, and also worked as a phone operator to cover their expenses. The turmoil and uncertainty in the contract – the independence struggle in India – affected the prospect of the ambitious director.

During this stage, Kmekash, a story rooted in artistic frustration and social disappointment, and ideas that later form a cinematic masterpiece Piasa.

DUTT’s friendship with her competition in the competition – Dev Anand – who quickly rose to fame as an actor – helped him have a chance to direct his first movie in 1951. Noir, Baazi, pushed him to the spotlight.

Soon love was found with the famous singer Jetta Roy, and on many novels, these first years were happier.

After Dutt launched his own film company, he recorded successive strikes with Romantic R-Bar, Master and Lady 55, both of which included leadership roles. But yearning for artistic depth, he started making what would become his distinctive movie – Piasa.

Explore the painful film that is difficult to be the artist’s struggle in a material world and after decades, it will become the only Indian movie in the Time Magazine list for the 100 greatest films in the twentieth century.

Lalith Lagi, who collaborated with me when she wrote his autobiography, said that Biasa was her brother’s “dream project” and that he “wanted to be perfect.”

As a director, DUTT was fond of “creating” the movie because it is formed on the groups, which leads to many changes in the text program, dialogues and the experience of camera technologies. While he was known to rid the viewer and re -formulate it, this has reached disturbing levels during Pyaaasa – for example, he shot 104 of the famous peak sequence now.

Lager said he was screaming and becoming bad when things were not going well.

“Sleep was smuggled. He began to misuse alcohol and depend on alcohol. In his worst, he began to try sleeping pills, and mixed them in whiskey. Guru Dot gave everything he had to make Piasa – his sleep, his dreams, and his memories,” she said.

In 1956, as his dream project approached, 31 -year -old Dutt tried to commit suicide.

“When the news came, we rushed to Bali Hill (where he lived).” “I knew he was in a state of turmoil. I often called me, saying that we needed to speak but we will not say one word when I got there,” she added.

But after being discharged from the hospital, the family did not ask any professional support.

Mental health was a “social stigma” theme at that time, and with a large money riding on Pyaaasa, Lajmi said that the family tried to move forward, without facing the full reasons behind her brother’s internal struggles.

It was released in 1957, and Pyaasa was a decisive and commercial victory that organized Dutt to stardom. But the director often expressed a feeling of emptiness despite its success.

“I wanted to be a director, actor, made good films – I have achieved everything. I have money, I have everything, however I have nothing.”

There was also a strange paradox between DUTT movies and his personal life.

His films often depict strong and independent women, but they are outside the screen, as he remembers Lafemi, he expected his wife to adopt more traditional roles and wanted her to sing only in the films produced by his company.

To maintain the prosperity of his company, DUTT had a simple base: every artistic gambling should follow a commercial film for banks.

But it is successful in Pyaaasa, ignoring his own rule and indulged directly in making his most expensive and similar personal movie: Kaagaz Ke Phool.

He tells the story of the miserable director’s marriage and the relationship of confusion. It ends in a frightening way with the death of the director after his failure to reconcile with his sharp unit and the relations governed.

Although he was now welcomed as classic, it was a commercial failure at the time, he never overcome Blow Dutt.

In the documentary on Channel 4, in search of Guru Dot, his co -star, Wahid Rahman, reminded him of.Life Mein Do Hi Toh Cheezen Hai – Kamyaabi Aur Faill. (There are only two things in life: success and failure) There is nothing between them. ”

After Kagaz Ke Phoool, he didn’t come out again.

But his company recovered over time, and returned to a strong return as a producer with Chaudhain Ka Chand, the most successful commercial movie in his career.

Then Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was directed by reliable script writer Abrar Alvi. By this time, Lajmi said, his personal life was in a state of severe disorders, characterized by a mood swing.

The film stumbled in the feeling of lonely for a woman besieged in a loved marriage of Malik, and often from the tyrant owner in a luxurious but feudal world.

The writer Pimal Mitra remembers that he told him about his struggle with insomnia and relying on sleep pills during this time. By that time, his marriage has collapsed and mental health exacerbated. Metra recalled many conversations with the continuous abstinence of Guru Dot: “I think I will be mad.”

One night, Dot tried to take his life again. He was unconscious for three days.

Lager says that after that, based on the advice of the doctor, his family contacted a psychiatrist to inquire about Dutt treatment but they have never followed up. Unfortunately, she added, “We have never called the psychiatrist again,” she said.

For years, she believed that her brother was silently crying for help, and perhaps she felt in a dark place where no one could see his pain, so that he could not find a way to get out of it.

A few days after the DUTT discharge, the shooting on Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam resumed as if nothing happened.

When Metra asked him about the accident, Dot said: “At the present time, I often wonder what disturbances that were, what insomnia I was suffering from in suicide? When I think about this, I feel terrorism with fear, but on that day, I did not feel any dilemma in swallowing these sleeping pills.”

The film achieved success, became an official entry into India to the 1963 Berlin Film Festival and also won a national award.

But dot’s personal struggles continued to install. He separated from his wife, and although he continued to act in films, he fought deep unity, often turning into alcohol and sleeping for rest.

On October 10, 1964, DUTT, 39, was found dead in his room.

I know that he always wished (death), and he was eager …

Like Pyaaasa, the real praise dutt was only after his departure.

Film lovers often wonder what he might have lived for a longer period; Perhaps he would continue to reshape the cinematic landscape in India with his poetic works.

Yasser Othman is the author of the Biography Book: An incomplete story